Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law Friday (May 30) a bill that sets the maximum penalty for repeat offenses of heroin distribution at 99 years, up from 50. The new law also increases the mandatory minimum amount of time those convicted even once of dealing the drug must serve in prison to 10 years, up from five.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Dan Claitor, D-Baton Rouge, was one of two bills pitched this session proposing an increase in heroin penalties that were filed in response to startling increases in deadly heroin overdoses and use of the opiate in Louisiana.

The final version of the legislation Jindal signed Friday, his office announced Saturday (May 31), reflected a compromise between the bills' sponsors that includes measures from Claitor's original bill and from another sponsored by Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie. Claitor pitched a bump in the maximum penalty, while Lopinto pushed for an increase the mandatory minimum sentence.

The compromise version of the bill Jindal supported faced push back from a number of mostly black lawmakers who thought thought the penalties were too excessive. The virtual life sentence of the 99-year prison term also reverses, some noted, sentencing reform the Louisiana Legislature passed a few years ago that lowered the penalty for heroin distribution from an actual life sentence to 50 years. Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, said it took a decade to push that reform through successfully.

Two pieces of legislation were also filed this session attempting to prevent opiate overdoses from becoming deadly. Jindal earlier this week signed into law legislation sponsored by Rep. Helena Moreno, D-New Orleans, that expands access to a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of heroin for those undergoing an overdose. Another bill, sponsored by Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, D-Baton Rouge, awaiting the governor's signature would provide legal immunity under certain circumstances to witnesses of a drug overdose who call for help.

Use of heroin has spiked in recent years across all demographics in Louisiana and the rest of the country as abusers of prescription drugs are finding it easier and cheaper to obtain following crackdowns on prescription opiates. Testimony given earlier in the session on another heroin-related bill indicated at least 144 people died in 2013 of heroin overdoses in southeast Louisiana, alone.